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Students and Faculty Wrap 1,000 Gifts at Full Circle Wrapping Event

11/09/2011

What can you accomplish with 50 students, some staff, and a few hours of time? You can wrap 1,000 gifts!

On Thursday, November 3, Students With A Vision (SWAV) hosted a wrapping party on behalf of the Full Circle Project, a local organization whose mission is to make sure loved ones receive a gift from their deployed husbands, boyfriends, or sons during the holiday season.

The organization was started by Vicki Durfee, whose son – a Fisher student – asked her to send a gift to his girlfriend and include a letter from him while he was serving overseas. Durfee, a Mary Kay Director, purchased 12 items for the “12 days of Christmas” and individually wrapped each gift, so that for each day of Christmas, his son’s girlfriend would have something to open. Durfee’s son told his fellow soldiers about his mom’s effort, and soon, she was receiving requests from them and had filled every inch of her house with boxes of gifts. Each package comes with individually wrapped items including, chocolates, Mary Kay lotions & creams, socks, and beauty items. According to Durfee, the gifts really serve as a way for the men to say thank you and give back to their significant other at home. For the women, she said that it is not about the gifts but more about the letters and the comfort of knowing they are being thought about on Christmas too.

The organization delivers gifts to women around Rochester in person on Christmas Eve. But, they ship gifts across the country leading up to the big day.

Durfee shared stories from the women with the students about how the project impacted them. Some of the women said they unwrapped the gifts all at once, then re-wrapped them and opened them again on Christmas. Some said that it gave them something to look forward to on Christmas day. Others were able to Skype with their husbands as they opened each gift.

“It was truly a touching experience and it was fabulous that Fisher was able to be a part of it,” said Emily Witty, President of SWAV.